But two of the biggest names on the teams’ cars no longer wish to be tainted by association with the team’s flagrant act of cheating.

Title sponsors ING jumped ship within hours of Mutua Madrilena abandoning the team. Neither of their logos are expected to remain on the car this weekend.

ING were already going to end their association with the team at the end of the year. But they haven’t gone quietly, issuing a stinging statement leaving no-one in any doubt of why they’ve dumped Renault four races early:

In light of the verdict of the World Motor Sport Council of 21 September 2009 concerning the events that occurred at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix, ING will terminate the contract with Renault Formula 1 with immediate effect.

ING is deeply disappointed at this turn of events, especially in the context of an otherwise successful sponsorship.

The company may now be about to follow Alonso to Ferrari, as it looks increasingly likely the Scuderia will announce him as a driver for 2010. However it’s not hard to see why an insurance company would not want to be associated with a team that deliberately caused a crash.

Alonso, meanwhile, has shown no regret for what happened and the team are obviously eager to sweep the matter under the carpet. The FIA are apparently happy to collude with them in this, and spared Alonso an appearance at today’s press conference for drivers. There will be no Renault representative at the teams’ press conference tomorrow either.

Asked what the trial had done from the reputation of the sport, he said:

I am not an expert of that. I only know what is about me, and what is about this weekend – which is the only thing that really matters.Fernando Alonso

I had nothing but admiration for Alonso when he railed at the FIA following his patently unjust qualifying penalty at Monza in 2006, famously declaring “F1 is no longer a sport.”

That same sense of sporting integrity now seems to have deserted him. I hope he finds it again soon.

Perhaps the disappearance of two of his team’s major sponsors within hours of him declaring “That is behind us and we move on,” will persuade him that this is a bigger deal than he would like to believe.

They were going to lose those sponsors at the end of the year anyway. Besides the moral outrage, this gives them a chance to save some money by ending their involvement early.

I figured that with the current economic climate, there weren’t going to be many companies with deep enough pockets to become Renault’s new title sponsor. But now with this over their heads, they may have to resort to offering bargain basement rates for ad space.

I saw it in 2006 and I see the video again, I still don’t see a block.. sissy Massa even taking his hands off the wheel after the lap to express his disgust when he did not even get close to Alonso’s car in that lap.

Now that ING in particular is gone, does that mean that we might see an end to the worst F1 paint scheme of recent years? Hopefully by Suzuka, or at worst Brazil, might there be a chance for Renault to run in their 25th (might have been 30th actually – yellow and black) anniversary scheme of a few years ago? That looked awesome!

I am with you on that one ! Didn’t see the irony of the insurance co associated with the crash until Keith brought it up here though .. maybe they should have turned it around to the effect of .. no matter how or why you crash your car, we have you covered !

And one a side note can we stop the witch hunt on Alonso soon maybe???

Not sure what HE has PERSONALY done, yes he won the race, but there was still atleast 3quaters of a race to go after PK crash…
So he still had to win the thing, and how he had any influence over PK and his actions is hard to fathom.

I’m your Boss I put a gun in your hand and say to you shoot some one and I will give you a contract (money) would you do it?

Now to go 1 further…I am your work mate, and the boss gives you a gun and says shoot some one and you do HOW does that implicate me????????????????????

I think that they are suffering because of their scandal. This picture didn’t really help in making ING happy for example as it damages their brand. Usually when sponsors leave the team they say in their statements how much they have benefited from the partnership and so on, this is an obvious sign they are extremely dissatisfied with Renault.

Oh, and I would love to see them race in that gorgeous black and yellow livery – also, PLEASE change team uniforms as well if possible – drivers and mechanics look like they are wearing daipers in them.

Keith, I love the Pic you posted without the ING decals, I was just thinking about how the car would look this weekend. My question is this: Do you think that ING will insist upon Renault removing the ING-themed coloring as well, in order to prevent any lingering resemblance or portrayal of their brand? If they did it would be great, even if they left it plain white; I, like many, loathe the R29’s livery. But it might make it confusing for the commentators to have Brawn look-alikes on the track!

Perhaps they will run the classic Renault yellow instead? That would be much nicer.

BTW – The company I work still sponsor Renault F1. I haven’t heard anyone rumours of them pulling out. But then it’s such a tiny sponsor you need a great big pic of car to see the name. We also have plenty of Renault F1 themed pictures around the company walls and desktop wallpaper etc. to remind us all. I wonder if ING had a big company destuction event of ripping off pictures of Renault from the walls and smashing them in their offices? :D

Maybe they could paint “Fred” and “Romy” in giant letters on the sidepods like McLaren used to to post-West.

Some bright lawyer flagged a default clause and off they went. And they knew Renault is not going to drag them to court over it and face more humiliation, and lose. This is called kicking someone when they are down. ING also probably reckons that since Fred is going to the reds they are not going to be getting the same bargain as before anyway.

I can’t agree with the tone of this article. ‘…issuing a stinging statement leaving no-one in any doubt of why theyâ€™ve dumped Renault four races early’? No. It’s expediency being presented as morality, which is something I find very irritating.

I am from the Netherlands, and I think they are (partly) being moral. This is the bank which by default doesn’t give you money if making a receipt is not possible at the ATM. The receipt being more important then the money..sums it up to me.

And this is the country where we made the great video2000 system, which lost from the worse VHS… Because our moralistic bosses didn’t want porn to be available on their beloved system…

Oh and by the way ING got some 8 billion euros taxmoney to save their asses… It would be very unmoral to keep on sponsering a cheating team with our tax money, I guess.

I’m with everyone who is excited that the cars might be able to get rid of that horrendous ING livery now! Anything looks better than that. Paint em up pretty like the R25 and R26 from Alonso’s heyday and he might just get a legitimate win at Singapore this time haha.

I don’t think anyone can blame these companies for dropping Renault instantly. If they are paying Renault a lot of money in to dispaly their logos they can at least expect that a) Renault will play by the rules of F1 and b) they won’t be dragged into/associated with cheating controversies.

Renault may have got off lightly with a suspended ban but i think we are now starting to see how damaging the scandal has been to them.

I started to intensely dislike Alonso when he tried to inhibit his teammateâ€™s opportunities at McLaren; this dislike intensified even more when he openly said he would try and help Massa win the title last year (not even his own team) and seemed to cheerlead the bullying against Hamilton. This man is a disgrace. He has no integrity. What kind of man wouldn’t try and distance himself from crashgate? He hasn’t even condemned it when he benefited from it. He clearly lacks morals or honour and yet he appears to get away with it. I read Jonathan Noble’s interview (well done him) – how childish Alonso seemed: “I will change my language if you continue to question me” about a topic that involves him deeply.

Well Fernando “what’s a strategy” Alonso: disgrace, happy to benefit from the most atrocious cheating, dishonourable man, that is what you are.

BTW, I have to credit a forum member on another forum for Alonso’s new nickname.

They were no threat to him at any time and after watching the 2 of them he could just said follow me and use my car setup and they still wouldnt have done any better. Romain was so so this year as Hulkenberg dominated the series.

I HATE Alonso with a passion, hes one of those sportsman who you know what nothing more tahn just to win,. although this is good in someways, it isn’t when they would cheat, be a dick and generally disregard others to get what they want.

I wish Alonso was found guilty and banned in this cheating stuff, then I wouldn’t have to put up with watching this guy go round the track and wishing he would crash…

I can see that many in this post would like that to happen , I think is just fear that if he joins Ferrari, he could beat Lewis. To me it would make it even more exciting to have the two top drivers in the top teams!
By the way Hate is a very big word for someone that you probably don’t even know personally.

Sounds like there’s a happy “family” atmosphere there since Domenicali’s been in charge, look at his words in support of Massa when guaranteeing him a drive, the team’s generosity towards Badoer, and the warmth of Fisichella’s welcome.

I am starting to agree about the action of fernando.. his true colors are really starting to show.
Last year also shows how intimidated he is by hamilton. Very sad to let a rookie intimidate a 2time wdc..

Boy, talk about turning a molehill into a mountain. In 2007 the guy wanted #1 status at the team, and he didn’t like his team mate much (because he was fast). If that adds up to a lack of integrity then just about every driver to ever sit in an F1 car lacks integrity.

Did LH come out and condemn his team in 2008 over stealing the ferrari files? Did he offer to give up his wins obtained during that year. Of course not, sheese, nor would we expect him too.

I second your opinion Hughes!Mr X has really stooped to the lowest possible level a human can go.Heâ€™s not only short in his stature but also in character. Teams have to realize this fact. This â€śshortâ€ť man is extremely dangerous for the sport. He tried to blackmail a great team & a great man that existed since before he was born.He is just trying to appease Luca di monty & ferrari thats all.He always wants to be in the limelight. Wants to make the front page of every spanish news paper.Mr X is making a serious mistake. He has lost respect among the elders of the sport.

S Hughes – I often sit back and read your grossly self-righteous and judgmental posts on this site. It is clear that your support for ‘Lewis’ goes beyond his abilities as an F1 driver. Notwithstanding this fact, your contempt for Alonso shows you to be as one-sided and unfair as any of his alleged actions.

You seem to forget that your driver (and I’m speaking as a Brit, not that nationality comes into this) was caught red-handed cheating himself this season. Of course, because of his tearful apology, this seems to have exonerated him. F1 is about winning – and I am not condoning Renault’s actions here – but to call someone lacking in morals just because they are a professional sportsmen (and one of the finest drivers F1 has ever known – in my opinion), and don’t want to have to face the inevitable barrage of media questions on a race weekend, is naive.

I think Keith’s analysis of this has also surprised me in its jumping to quick assumptions. Especially the point about strategy. From the interview with Hamilton, he was essentially making the same point as Alonso, in that he is not involved directly in setting strategy. There are some races, as he said, that he does comment on, as I’m sure Alonso does. It is hardly fair therefore, to say that Hamilton ‘does and Alonso ‘doesn’t’ set strategy.

I am admirer of both Hamilton and Alonso, but hate to see such flagrant ill-advised comments.

@Parkp .Interesting replies. all the while reading through this article and the other one from Keith about Strategies there was only one thing that was going through my mind.

How did it used to work between Brawn and Schumey both at benetton and ferrari?

Needless to say this was one of the most formidable and winnigest combination in F1 history. Every race Schumey won or climbed to the podium has been strategized by Ross. Did Schumey blindly trust Brawn on strategy or did he have a say ?

If Schumey was in Alonso’s place in this race or any race and asked to stop at such a short distance initially would he not ask innocently what is the plan and how it is going to span out in the race and what position are they expecting though the strategy in the end ?

But I also heard stories that Ross would radio schumey during the race saying we need take out 1/10 of a sec for next 10 laps and schumey would just do it ? Now was it just blind trust.

Very interesting scenarios. I believe comparing one driver to another would not give any conclusive answer. It is all about each drivers comfort with the race director or engineer.

Maybe somebody should put the same question to Schumey and Brawn and see how they answer this.

Mr X makes Mr. Schumacher look humane. At least Mr Schumacher was man enough to accept that he cheated several times to gain unfair advantage over others . But Mr X, the Spainsh troll goes to R. Dennis with some self-manipulated documents & blackmails him to make Mr X the number one driver. Mr X couldn’t even take on a rookie. He got beaten fair & square in 07. I dunno how people rate him over Kimi & Lewis. Mr X got lucky in 05 & 06. Those years should have belonged to Kimi but for his reliability problems. To sum up Mr X:-

Lewis held his hands up, apologised profusely and lost his points in Australia. Alonso is being shifty, arrogantly refuses to answer questions, is clearly lying about his knowledge of strategy calls, and hasn’t condemned in any way what happened in crashgate.

What a HUGE difference between the two. Lewis was justifiably 3rd in Australia, and he was wrongly advised and made an error and he apologised. It would have been unlikely that Alonso would have been in the points in Singapore without crashgate. So he and his team profited, and he hasn’t come out to say he feels he doesn’t deserve the win. The man has no honour or integrity, no matter how you want to spin it. Lewis is infinitely superior in that respect.

Lewis held his hands up, apologised profusely and lost his points in Australia.

But Lewis only held his hands up and apologised after he’d twice lied to the stewards and it had been proven that he’d given a different version of events in a television interview. There was clear and incontestable evidence that Hamilton had lied to the stewards.

At the time of writing, however, there is no evidence that Alonso lied about his lack of knowledge of “Crashgate”. Quite the contrary, in fact. Despite the Renault press officer saying that Alonso would only talk about 2009 he still responded to all but two of Noble’s questions. Of the two he didn’t answer, one concerned the identity of Witness X (an obvious no go area for any member of the Renault team, not just Alonso) and the other was an obvious trap designed to elicit the answer that the FIA had pursued a witchhunt against Briatore.

There is a difference between the two but I’m afraid that, at present, it’s that Hamilton lied and was caught out whereas your intense dislike of Alonso is somehow supposed to prove that he must be lying about his involvement.

pull your head in, as a the current world champion I would have expected more from my team than to play favorites to a rookie, at the expense of my title defense.

Alonso went to a new team for his own benefit to retain the f1 crown. The team wanted him there to help the team, so there is no harm is stating each has own personal interests as a priority.
To say he “inhibit his teammateâ€™s opportunities” is load of absolute inaccurate unjust load of tripe.

To continue your rant and defame and liable the man is rather uncouth.

If some prat of a report wants to harras and probe to hopefuly make him say something that he can then go and use against him, I would have been less than talkative myself.

But Alonso does distance himself from “Crashgate” in the Noble interview – he says he had never suspected Piquet’s crash was intentional and that he had no knowledge of the whole affair, as per the WMSC verdict. If Alonso is being truthful (and so far there is no evidence to suggest that he hasn’t) what more is there to say other than repeat that he had no knowledge and express a desire to move on?

Granted, he hasn’t apologised for “Crashgate”, renounced his Singapore win or gone down on his knees to beg for forgiveness – but if he did you’d either complain that it was a wholly cynical gesture or claim it as proof of his complicity.

Also very disappointed with Ecclestone (mind you what more should I expect from him). He is apparently saying that Briatore should appeal his verdict and not get a lifetime ban from F1. Amazing that the guy who runs the show should be happy to have a team boss in the paddock who sanctioned such a dangerous and immoral episode of cheating.

While they’ll suffer the ignomity of the sponsors withdrawing, I don’t think it will hurt Renault too much. Their only update between now and the end of the year is going to be introduced in Singapore, and all of the money from both ING and Mutua will have been paid by now. And ING was already withdrawing at the end of this season, anyway. It’ll be embarrassing, but it won’t hurt their chances.

ToTal is french..and the french stick together.. Not necessarily a bad thing except right now. If I was renault, I would become a engine provider and sell the team and get out of f1 and regroup for a couple of years down the road. Without flavio.

The pre-2003 name was TotalFinaElf, basically two French and a Belgian oil company under the same umbrella. Elf is probably one of the brands in the Total group, much like Mobil 1 being under Exxon-Mobil…

Maybe Renault will use the space to promote its Samsung Motors division, which I believe has a eye on increasing its Asian market share with new models based on Renault platforms. What better advertising could SMI hope for, and I’ll bet the price would be right.

A bit of a suprise, and it just gose to show how damaging the scandal is becoming. Inded, ING was uling out at year’s end anyway- and out of F1 completely, not just Renault. But it still dosen’t look good for the carmaker when sponsors just drop off…you gotta wonder how they plan to attract a new title sponsor under such circumstances?

Very very Bad of ING and Mutua. Afterall they we together this long and they are anyway going to pull out this year end. They act like Morale Gods whereas it is because of their pressure to show a win that Flav and pat had to take this extreme step. Now they want to show how rude they are.

Hurting somebody when they are down. This is worst way to do it. These guys are acting as if nothing wrong ever happened on their side.

Again McLaren went through similar problems or rather worse in 2007 still Vodafone and everybody supported them now that is true sportmanship and spirit.

Alonso still thinks nothing was wrong. In fact he claims his 2008 win in Singapore was just as worthy as any other.

He feels that he still risked his life and had to be fastest over the total 60 laps. An incident in lap 12 or 13 doesn’t decide a race. *rolls eyes*

I once held Alonso in the greatest esteem, but he gows down yet another peg.

Here is a bit of interview from AS “babel fished” to english:

The previous one is no lost value because you never can decide a race that is more than 60 returns in return twelve or thirteen. It can happen of everything. I have it in the highest consideration, I gained the first nocturnal race of history. And by many things, aside from by the incident, the failures of the others, because we went more express than nobody, not to commit any errorâ€¦ Nobody can win or to lose a race thanks to another thing, is necessary to finish it well. Km/h by the streets went to 320. I finished without water it navigated and me in podio, could not see what was underneath. The race has the same value that any other and I gambled the life like in any other circuit.

Sorry Fernando, but an incident on lap 12 or 13 does decide a race when you move up from 15th place to first. You may have “Gambing the life like in any other circuit” but this win will be tainted forever, regardless of whether you knew about Flav, Symonds and NPJ’s plan.

My Spanish is bad, but I’ll try to improve google’s interpretation of what Mr X said:

you never can decide a race that is more than 60 laps in lap twelve or thirteen. Anything can happen.I rate that victory as my best, I gained the first night race of history.And by many things, aside from the incident, the failures of the others, I was the fastest in the entire race, I did not commit any error.Nobody can win or to lose a race because of another incident. you need to finish the race to win it. On a circuit which is almost 320 kms, I went to the podium celebrations with out water. I rate this victory of mine like any other. I took a gamble & It paid off.

he say’s he rates this victory as any other!!
What a bunch load of rubbish!! Mr X is a real spanish troll.

Omg Schumacher is a saint compared to this guy. Absolutely no moral values.

Thank you sooooooo much ING. You leaving has shown how appalling the actions of FB and PS were. The FIA are shown to be exactly what they are. A bunch or spinless, money orientated jokes. Good riddance Mosely

It’s completely understandable for the two top sponsors to withdraw. Renault must have been expecting that.

However, Alonso’s “everything is completely normal” interview was very strange indeed. Not a hint of remorse or mention of the damage to F1’s reputation. And to suggest everything is completely normal within the team is just plain bonkers!

He’s trying to stay on message and do what his PR has briefed him to do. But as a two-times world champion, a known critic of the FIA, and a man with an intense passion for formula one…I’m afraid he sounds like a dumb-ass corporate drone here. Some reflection, acknowledgement and motivational words for the F1 crew there in Singapore (who must be seriously p****ed off) would have helped the team and make him come across more like a triple world champion in waiting.

I think I am getting sick of reading about articles and comments from people that are nothing but negative. All talk the last few years in F1 is scandal, negative bull. The good old days will never return. $$$ in sport has detroyed the very thing that sport is all about!!!

I can sort of see what Fernando’s saying-he didn’t do anything wrong he just raced like he should. Alonso’s damned no matter what he does at the moment. If he focuses on what happened people will question him more and if he tries to put it behind him then he endorses cheating or is at least morally bankrupt in many eyes. Although Renault should have been stripped of the win as it was gained from cheating.
Renault can make a decent livery now, but more than that I hope they can get some sponsos. The team shouldn’t have to leave the sport because of 3 men who were obsessed by winning and furthering their careers.

The more F1 drivers are questioned on the issue, the less I respect them….

Can one of them give a straight forward opinion on the matter???? they all are taking the safe side thinking, i might race for Renault one day, i shouldn’t trash them now, after all it was Flavio…. or is it actually more sinister,

maybe perhaps, drivers are not commenting or in deed condemning for the unfathomable fact that some or most of them have participated in someway at cheating and race fixing???? and wouldn’t want someone calling them damn hypocrites, and blowing this rotten apple we call a F1 wide open…

Asked what the trial had done from the reputation of the sport, he said:

I am not an expert of that. I only know what is about me, and what is about this weekend â€“ which is the only thing that really matters.
Fernando Alonso

I had nothing but admiration for Alonso when he railed at the FIA following his patently unjust qualifying penalty at Monza in 2006, famously declaring â€śF1 is no longer a sport.â€ť

I’m with you Keith. I had great admiration for Alonso too, but after I read Autosport’s interview of Alonso and the irresponsible way he dodged questions, I, an arcent fan of Alonso, am beginning to dislike him. But avoiding questions may be more of a policy of the Renualt team or Alonso himself. He used to dodge questions whenevr journos asked him about KERS-related issues at the beginning of the season.

Asked what the trial had done from the reputation of the sport, he said:

I am not an expert of that. I only know what is about me, and what is about this weekend â€“ which is the only thing that really matters.
Fernando Alonso

I had nothing but admiration for Alonso when he railed at the FIA following his patently unjust qualifying penalty at Monza in 2006, famously declaring â€śF1 is no longer a sport.â€ť

Iâ€™m with you Keith. I had great admiration for Alonso too, but after I read Autosportâ€™s interview of Alonso and the irresponsible way he dodged questions, I, an arcent fan of Alonso, am beginning to dislike him. But avoiding questions may be more of a policy of the Renualt team or Alonso himself. He used to dodge questions whenevr journos asked him about KERS-related issues at the beginning of the season.

Why wouldn’t he dodge questions? English is not his first language, if he says the wrong thing he’s only going to set himself up for trouble. And going by past experience he probably reckons he’s going to get a raw deal anyway.

Alonso is never as slick as Hamilton in speaking to the English press, and in any case from the look of things, he’s never to go get a fair hearing anyway. Hatred for him is so deepset — judging just by comments from this blog — that he is going to be condemned regardless of what he says or does.

And your remarks about “hatred” are miles wide of the mark. I was totally behind Alonso on the Monza penalty three years ago, and a lot of commenters on the site have said similar things. He’s let himself down badly in how he’s handled this.

Alonso is still in Renault and Flavio is his friend. I understand that he doesn’t want to answer, because he cannot speak his mind openly. Maybe in some years we will know his true opinion on all that.

The sponsors were due to leave at the year anyway so they still would have had to look for more sponsors next season, the question is how has race fixing affected that.

It will be relatively easy to take the logos off the cars and as has already been mentioned hopefully Renault will take the opportunity to change their livery to something decent after Singapore. However when you think they will have to take the ING logos off everything such as team clothing I wonder if they will manage that by the weekend?

Why should Alonso show remorse, he wasn’t the one who orchestrated the whole thing. It is not his responsibility to feel guilty. But something else you have to take into consideration, Alonso is leaving the team end of the season, he can’t now start bad mouthing everything that goes on within the team. Almost every driver interviewed about the fiasco chose not to comment, why should Alonso be any different.

Well he drove his race with all the innocence of a white dove. :-
In reality, Alonso can’t afford to do anything that would further cause Renault embarrassment. Its not his responsibility to renounce the win, it is the responsibility of the FIA to take it away from him.
Who knows if the FIA will sanction him for renouncing the win.

ÂˇAy por favor! Can we please leave Alonso out of this. If he had something to do with this, then oh well lets go on with racing, if he did do it, then shame on him and still lets get on with racing. Senna and Prost crashed into each other back in the day, and no one said anything, no one hated Senna for crashing into Alain, no one hated Alain for crashing into Ayrton, and yet everyone hates Fernando for not crashing. I don’t mean any disrespect for anyone in here.

I lost respect for both drivers for their antics to win the wdc. Senna is now gone and prost is relegated to an uminmportant level so they are no longer a subject of recenmt conversation.
When I mention them it is to put reference to the days we are in noww and how it relates.
Both were great drivers, neither liked each other although I understand that prost tried to become friends with senna and was shut out.
The reality is that they actually started the current form of winning at all cost. The fia should have banned all their results for their action in the year they crashed each other out and that would have sent a clear message to the younger drivers that this form of competition is not acceptable.
Maybe if they had we wouldnt be talking about a team principle, the cheif engineer and a child throwing a race.